I hope you all had a fantastic holiday, and that you've got 2015 off on the right foot. This is pretty important, because in many cases we all have lots to do for school, work, or life, and for many of us this takes us away from our Creative Goals! Unless ART is your profession, chances are you have to find ways to incorporate a more creative lifestyle just like you would a workout routine! We're all trying our best.

Have you made plans to incorporate more creativity into your life in 2015?

I have. I'm taking more photos and posting them regularly using the new DeviantArt Mobile App, and I'm placing my Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid next to the TV so that I can draw while watching mindless television. I will continue (like last year) to sketch and draw whenever I'm traveling on airplanes, or whenever I need to prepare for a logically oriented task. I recommend drawing for 15 minutes before you do your math homework! It really seems to help me before I look at spreadsheets and stuff.

What do you plan to do to lead an even more creative life in 2015?

Meanwhile, a quick photoblog from the break. Viktoria, Bentley, Royce and I Airstreaming through Arizona from California for a couple of weeks beginning December 20th through January 3rd. We planned to drive much farther, but Arizona was so nice we just hung around! We stopped in Sedona, Lake Roosevelt, Apache Lake, Canyon Lake, Lake Havasu, the Salton Sea, Joshua Tree, Phoenix, and even a crazy Hot Springs RV Resort full of nude people.

This photo is real, taken at night, no filters, straight from the camera. Joshua Tree, and our Airstream for the week! The pups gettin' some chow in the morning after arriving to Roosevelt Lake. Viktoria and I having some fun in Sedona. We'd never been, really pretty place! We fell in love with the Airstream that we rented. Home away from home! And we came back super relaxed..Campfire after campfire, we substituted ghost stories for funny stories and laughed our asses off! This was Xmas Eve.Off-roading in Sedona.Hangin' in the Airstream on a day Viktoria had to report to work remotely. Bentley (foreground) & Royce rest after running wild through Joshua Tree National Park! I kept the shutter open for a few seconds on this one, so you can see the stars we were seeing! Toying around with a green laser, Bentley, & the 5D MII with an open shutter. I like this the best... where'd it go? Oop, there it is! The dam between Roosevelt and Apache lakes in Arizona. Nighttime.Daytime.And from a distance. Heavenly! Breakfast / Roosevelt Lake.Found a junk yard and photo bombed it! Dork! Anyone play Catan? We love it. Bentley does too, which is why he's yawning.....Crossing the real London Bridge in Lake Havasu. It fell down! ... And ended up in Arizona?? This is a job for Wikipedia to explain... "Um, if you want me to get in this car you're gonna have to lift me." - Princess RoyceRoyce wants to play... this could get seriously fun! Pontoon boat fishing! We caught friggin' NUTHIN'! haha It was fun tho! Our xmas tree was this chair hammock with solar xmas lights we wrapped it in!

Welcome.

Many of you have been in this community for a long time, but whether you’ve just joined or you’ve been a member since day one, this is your first impression of the new DeviantArt.

Change is not something that we take lightly, because it affects our collective identity. It was important for us to define who we are and what we’re made of at our core before we changed anything. We all have our own understanding of what that means, but the process of getting that core story down on paper took almost a year.

The result is “Bleed and Breed Art.” This is our center of gravity and our reason for getting out of bed in the morning.

It is the guide and the justification for everything, including our business partnerships, the development of the new app and the design of our new identity. Anything and everything we create is in service of our innate calling to Bleed and Breed Art.

This is who we are at our essence. When I say “we,” I mean you, too. We are not a company or a brand or a website—we are a community united in our love and support of art and artists. Our new look is not designed to compete or keep up with other companies, brands or websites—it’s designed to tell our story and showcase our art and artists in the best possible way. We are DeviantArt.

We are where art starts, but that is only the beginning. We are a community for the creative in everyone to develop and heighten their personal sense of taste, but that’s not where it ends. We are the movement for the liberation of creative expression.

We believe that art is for everyone, and we’re creating the cultural context for how it is created, discovered and shared.

Artists love us because we are an inclusive and supportive community. We help them find their identity through self-expression. We provide the tools, resources and exposure to enable them to become better, more successful artists. We inspire people to create art by feeding their creativity.

We provide endless entertainment and inspiration. This is where you see it first. This is where whatever you’re into, no matter how niche, is embraced and expressed by a dedicated community of likeminded creatives. This is where the global undercurrent of creativity feeds the future of popular culture.

There’s no other place like DeviantArt. We are an unapologetically addictive experience. Our world is a prolific orgy of originality where creatives enjoy freedom of artistic expression. We are the deviation of creativity that shatters the confines of expectation. We can’t help it—it runs through our veins and compels us to nurture it in others. This is DeviantArt.

We are an unapologetically rebellious community of unconventional creatives. Never restricted by convention, we create the genres and sub genres that push the edge of the art world’s boundaries. We have a fearless confidence that comes with being the established alternative for millions of badass deviant artists. You will know us when you see us, because we’re like nothing you’ve ever seen.

We’re an addictive force of creativity. Always fun, entertaining and effortlessly captivating, we’re a mesmerizing visual experience. If being the source of the digital art world’s most prolific creativity is cool, we’re destined to be iconic. There’s a reason why our vast community keeps growing: once you get a taste, you’re hooked for life.

We are open to the creative in everyone. Our community is a family of visual communicators born with an innate appreciation for art. It is in the blood running through our collective veins. We are more than a collaborative creative environment, we are a safe, trustworthy place for the intimate act of bonding over art from the heart.

We develop ingenious ways for the world to create and discover art. Our energy and knowledge comes from years of facilitating the vibrant creativity of our community. We put every ounce of our intellectual curiosity into developing an evolving environment that stimulates and inspires our artists to push the limits of their talents.

Our new logo is symbolic of everything we believe. It is an audacious and inspired evolution of our original dA mark—literally turning the art world upside down. We love it because, like DA, people might not get it right away and, like all great art, it challenges perceptions and perspectives. Most importantly, it elevates DeviantArt and our artists.

WE TURN THE ART WORLD UPSIDE DOWN AND BACKWARDS.

You, the artist and the art enthusiast, are what truly define us, so you should have as much ownership over our identity as we do. Here you’ll find all of the elements of our new visual identity with high-level direction on how they should be used.

The construction of our brand mark is a combination of our symbol and a completely customized wordmark, all of which use the angle of 62 degrees to cut the letter forms.

These are the five preferred lockups of our logo and wordmark.

There is no question that DeviantArt is green. Like art, it is in our blood. We considered every shade of green imaginable before deciding unanimously on the bold, vibrant “DeviantArt Green” you see now. Most importantly, we’ve defined a system for using it selectively rather than pervasively.

As well as DeviantArt Green, we’ve established a neutral color palette of greys chosen specifically for their qualities to showcase art. Now, DA is represented in DeviantArt Green and our art can represent itself in the best light.

Core Gray Scale

#000000

#181A1B

#4F5254

#7D8080

#F2F2F2

#FFFFFF

DA Green

#05CC47

Secondary Color

#1F3833

#34807A

#40CfC7

#D4F5F2

#1F3626

#42794F

#4DC47D

#D4F5DE

UI Orange

#F7590A

Our typeface is called Calibre (not Calibri) by a type foundry called Klim. We use caps whenever possible and give it a custom treatment by cutting off the first and last letters of words and/or sentences with the diagonal angle of our logo.

Another great thing about our symbol is that it can tessellate to form a beautiful pattern. It is particularly powerful because, when the symbol tessellates, it allows the two “A”s to become more clear.

Our identity is as much yours as it is ours, so we wanted you to have all of the pieces to bring it to life in your own ways. Download, share and create as you see fit.

If you haven’t met Fella, he’s our mascot, and he’s not going anywhere. Fella’s look has changed over the years, and those changes have always been made by the community. That’s not going to change. He is yours and yours alone. Here he is with the new logo.

The new mobile app was a long time coming, and it is truly amazing. Art has never looked better on a mobile device. This is not a mobile version of our website—it’s a revolutionary new way to access the entire community, submit and browse art and experience DeviantArt on the go from your mobile device.

Taking a deep dive into introspection required the guidance and perspective of a trusted partner. We chose to work with Moving Brands, who we consider to be the greatest independent creative company in the world. Check out their work for yourself at MovingBrands.com.

We spent months together, at one point even locking ourselves in repurposed warehouse space in downtown LA for an intensive 12 hour workshop. Every voice was heard. Everything was put on the table. We were exposed—stripped back to our essence and forced to reconcile our past with our future.

Tough questions were asked and answered. What does it mean to be a deviant? What is the nature of art and of artists? What are the universal truths about DA? Who are we, really?

Moving Brands are pros, and their guidance was invaluable in filtering through the myriad of insights, impressions and opinions to find the common threads. It’s how we got to “Bleed and Breed Art,” which informed everything else from logo and color choices to the layout of the website and the functionality of our amazing new app.

Bleed and Breed Art is more than a tagline. We’re using it to guide all of our decisions. In other words, before we add a feature or design an app or make a business partnership, the question, “will this Bleed and Breed Art?” is the first thing we ask of ourselves. If the answer is anything but an emphatic “yes,” we go back to the drawing board.

In many ways, “Bleed and Breed Art” is the most important piece that came out of this journey. It has always been true and will always be true.

There will be more changes and new additions in the future as we continue to grow. Some may have obvious benefits, while the reasoning behind others may not be so immediately apparent. Whatever the case may be, know that the motivation behind everything we do will always be to Bleed and Breed Art—for our 32 million registered members, for the new artists and art lovers of the future, and for the world.

You want change on DeviantArt. Everyone here has something they would change. We do listen and, yes, we can’t get everything done. Still, as a community, with any change we change together because we are all here together.

We found major talent to join the DeviantArt team this year to help us assume responsibility for major change and deliver on it. In return, we will be calling on the whole community to exercise its responsibility of continuing to shape DeviantArt into the place where the global undercurrent of creativity feeds the future of popular culture.

DeviantArt is as binary as it is digital in its platform. We serve equally those who produce art as those who need to see art and engage with it. Creating the undercurrent is a function of tools as much as it is a function of community activity. Getting these two to work in unison has always been the secret sauce of DeviantArt – and every recipe for the sauce begins with the community.

This is the shape of things to come.

New Mobile App!

They wanted me to say “new” Mobile App but really it’s not new, it’s the “amazing” Mobile App! As you all know it will be our very, very first official DeviantArt Mobile App. You’ll be able to access the entire community from your mobile devices. You’ll be able to submit art as you see it. You’ll be able to connect and browse endlessly. It’s a whole new way to experience DeviantArt. It will turn the undercurrent towards a massive flood of creativity. When? You won’t have to wait long.

New Site Features

There are several new site features that are all designed to liberate creative expression and advance this community:

Collections: Art curators are the unsung heroes of DeviantArt. Collections display breathtaking, thought-provoking, emotional and brilliant galleries gathered from, and then dedicated to, the community. You’ll get to watch Collections as they happen! Collections will be given a bigger role on the site with increased visibility, new discovery tools, and a showcase to highlight the best of the best.

The Today Page:This is where you will want to have your morning coffee. Every day, the Today page editorial team will draw from and reflect back to the community a vibrant combination of news, features, curations and conversations about this community and its impact, pulsing into the undercurrent as the heartbeat of DeviantArt. When DeviantArt first launched and for years later it had a news section. The Today page brings that back to an audience that has grown immeasurably in size influence and interests. The scope is immense.

Activity Feeds:As we designed for Mobile we understood we needed something more streamlined and direct to carry the flow of what you want to watch. The Activity Feed, already with our beta testers, is a real-time sequential delivery of every Journal, deviation, Collection, Status Update, Poll, Forum thread and Critique posted by your watchlist. From the Activity Feed you can comment or you can post new Status Updates. Keep in mind, we love the robust tools in the Message Center and it's not going away.

Status Updates:We’ve now added the ability to post short Status Updates to your profile or to the Activity Feed as an alternative to using Journals. It’s another push from our designs for Mobile. The simple and direct format of a Status Update lets you create informal conversations with your watchers; something Deviants have needed and requested for a long time. Use these to share how you’re feeling, what you think about, what you’re working on, or to link your watchers to the work of an artist you love. On the Mobile App you’ll be able to use them on the go. Our new Tags will also work in Status Updates.

New Site Navigation:New navigation will make it easier to jump in and explore the full range of DeviantArt. Everything related to Your Account will be grouped together on the right side of the page. Undiscovered, What’s Hot, Activity Feed and Today will be separated from Browse and Search to highlight and more clearly reflect their functions. The Browse bar will scroll down the page with you – a kind of obvious convenience we will try to focus on across the board as we introduce fresh design. This is the kind of change that does require time to get used to. My bet is in seven days you’ll be fine.

Tags:We’ve already launched the beginnings of Tags on DeviantArt. Tags let you group deviations, Journals, Status Updates, and comments by subject instead of category and will let you add them to other subject groupings. All content with the same Tags are grouped onto Tag pages that let you follow the full activity of the community on a given subject. We’ve missed a way to connect the DeviantArt community with trending events. When you dip into the undercurrent, Tags are a way to do it with passengers.

Daily Deviations:We are giving new prominence to Daily Deviations lifting them up off of the footer. It’s amazing work from every corner of the community and it belongs up-front and center! In the Mobile App they will be available as a separate browse category and the same change will be made on the website in the new Header as a part of the new site navigation.

A Fresher Look and Feel

All of these changes, particularly Mobile, made us re-examine the way the site looks and feels. As we design these new features and functions, the look on the site will be cleaner and simplified.

In early feedback we have heard concerns that DeviantArt will look like Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr. That’s not our shape to come. Mobile is here, and we have to be ready to function within that platform and its conventions. We will start pushing Mobile to do things just like we pushed the Web. On our way, it may look like we are conforming to others; but, DeviantArt will always be devious.

We went through a deep process of re-examination and definition over the past months. Some of that came out in the Celebrate DeviantArt's 14th Birthday Journal. Now you will actually begin to see a re-imagined us.

It’s time for change, both actual and symbolic. We intend to seize this time together. We will in fact:

Let's bring it back to the old school my peoples. The days when we'd write real Journals, and link to all kinds of stuff on the Internet like as if we were Google. Get your scroll wheel ready, web-style.

DeviantArt is on a M)&H3R 4/_|<126! RAMPAGE! A NEW Beginning. If you knew what I know, you'd already be screaming. The reavening is upon us and there is no where to hide. Thanks for your feedback on the SNEAK PEEK of the new Today page, btw. We've reviewed all comments, made changes, and will be ready to share more soon, so keep an eye out! Another comp set from The NEW DeviantArt is on its way to you soon.

Comic-Con 2014, July 24-27th

^ Does this guy look like he had a good time??? You will too as we journey through DeviantArt's Artists' Alley, and take a look at our Superstars of DeviantArt, We The Fandom and Fan Art Law PII panels. The first appearance of FELLA, the launch of MILK FOR THE UGLY to riveting success, and my girlfriend o-KOUKLA-o inspired, scared and twisted Comic-Con as The Joker with her friend Diana as Bane!

The DeviantArt / Madefire Preview Night Party!

Thunder wasn't all we brought, we also brought Madefire to the creator world during this con, and here's the party that kicked that off! Wait, is that a line around the block?

^ fella, Cloud9hoodie, then a rare photo of spyed and the lovely LaurenKitsune!^ RARE SUPERSTAR MOMENT! DeviantArt's Stanley ' Artgerm ' Lauand the MEGA POPULAR Alice X. Zhang, aka alicexz !!!!!!!!!!!!^ Check out marioluevanos & xraystyle !!!^ spyed and CEO/Co-Founder of Madefire, BenWolstenholme reviewing the stunningwork of a deviant who goes by the name of Zirngibl We were riveted. A true highlight of the evening to meet such a talented woman. Check out her work she is seriously one ofmy new absolute +Favorite artists. +Watch, +Love. And you'd be silly if you weren't +Watching BenWolstenholme ... surely you realize this.

^ Awww... ladies and gentlemen, the lovely Keight123 on the left photo/right side with her friends, and madizzlee & bittygirla^ Say hello to our kick ass tattoo stencilers! ^ Is that the infamous Uwe Maurer, CEO of ArtRage ? We love your natural painting software, Mr. Maurer! Thanks for coming!

- c|net

- Fast Company

Fella Makes a GRAND Entrance!

For the first time ever....... Introducing.... FELLA!!!

FELLA making his first real world appearance other than in plushie form for the firsttime in history! Appropriate, we think. In case you are wondering, he's the most loving soul on Earth and hugging him felt great!

^ He's even learned a new instrument since the release of DeviantArt v7 in 2010!

Did he get his hugs on?? Heck yah! That's how Fella rolls!

DeviantArt Artists' Alley 2014

Photos apparently can't do this thing justice on the whole, but if you put it all together in your mind from all the pieces here, you'll appreciate the beauty of what is happening in Artists' Alley. Please be sure to read my past journal about this alley called: The Love that Binds SDCC's Artists' Alley. A million thanks, and all our love to clydene - always!

^ We're missing makepictures in this photo - But without him, and withouttechgnotic who is standing next to me here, we couldn't pull off Artists Alley eachyear. SO, a great big thank you to both makepictures and techgnotic - Always amazing, always a pleasure.^ Ahh... There's makepictures on the left! We're just getting warmed up.I sincerely want you to see how packed the Alley was this year. But in an epic fail,we didn't actually capture many long or wide shots this time around. If you were at the con and you nabbed some, please link them for us! Yikes!!!! This video I tookis pretty much the only one. Sorry it's not that great!

LBP/LINK? AHH!!!MAZING!^ LiamSharp - Chief Creative Officer for Madefire. Truly a gentleman and a scholar. Here he tells us the ways of life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ... in bed!

Quite seriously, Liam's contributions to the DeviantArt community recently absolutelyastound me. Perhaps one of the most important conversations happening on DeviantArt, and easily the most important conversation happening in the entire comic book industry is the one that is happening right now on LiamSharp's Journal.Go to his Journal and start with a post written on June 4th titled, "I Got Angry."Engage in the dialog. Read what people are saying in response. Why? Because ifyou want to be on the bleeding edge of storytelling, LiamSharp is the key to the doorof the future.^ My kick ass girlfriend o-KOUKLA-o who scared the hell out of everybody with our friend Diana Rios as Bane. Aren't they lovely? I think so. ^ Ahh, the love of my life.Mr. BenWolstenholme drawing the ladies during the Madefire Cosplay sketching hour! WAIT A MINUTE, WHO'S THAT OTHER GUY?

madizzlee is a badass Link! While LaurenKitsune Cosplays as Isabela from Dragon Age 2!Thank you wacom for providing Cintiq's for deviants to use at the 'Con! We also had our very favorite autodesk-sketchbook running on all machines with the lovely andinspiring reneedicherri from Autodesk hanging out in case anyone had questions! ^autodesk-sketchbook in action!BTW the NEW Sketchbook is out, and I'm just insanely in love with it. Worth your time to check it out or to upgrade your copy! autodesk was with us in Artists Alleythis year and the artists using their software were just raving about it. It's a new day in the digital arts! Go autodesk-sketchbook go! ^ Cosplay ALL DAY, EVERYDAY!^ This dude was rockin'! ^ Well aren't these the cutest kids at the Con! Especially Lily.. errr I mean the one in the middle! Errr.. I mean the random kids we took photos of!

Our Kick-Ass Comic-Con Panels

Our 2014 panel line up was fantastic. Excellent turn outs, great panelists, all around a wonderful thing that we're very proud to provide for Comic-Con each year!

WE THE FANDOM

aunjuli and damphyr brought squeels of joy out of their We The Fandom panel audience. They're so sweet, charming, lovely and full of fandom! And not to mention, these wonderful ladies are coming soon to a Today pagenear you!

Unfortunately as of this writing I don't have any photos for two of the panels, I will be updating once I do. They are the FANS, LOVE, AND THE LAW panel, and the MAYA 3D MODELING SOFTWARE ft. FELLA panel. They were great!

Party!

What else happened??

Is that the legendary Kim Jung Gi? Artgerm says that he just can't stand this guy because there is simply nothing to learn from him. he explains; how can you learn when Kim Jung Gi simply walks up to a blank canvas, and draws an entire world without any process at all!he sees his drawing in his mind, and he puts it to paper directly. there is no process! you can't learn when there is just genius, and no process! - great point. And I hear he may be joining DeviantArt soon, so you can be marveled and learn nothing from him other than f34r of true, raw, hardcore deviousness. muahaha

It was an honor to meet you, sir! we hope you will join our community and offer whatever you are willing, to our humble and loving home of DeviantArt!

Speaking of Artgerm - Check out the key-art for the Comic-Con campaign that he made for us. A few weeks back, it topped the Popular 24 hour charts when he posted this:

^ Feel free to download, print and use however you like (for personal use).

When you're young, your teenage years can't come soon enough. Thirteen was fun, but with a whole year as a teenager under your belt, you start to get perspective on what it means to grow up. You're not there yet, but the path ahead is clear and inspiring.

At 14, you start taking on responsibilities and testing out maturity, while continuing to reach for the stars and fostering the creativity that's such an integral part of your life.

DeviantArt's 14th birthday marks the ushering in of this new chapter. For the past year, we've gained perspective on where our journey should lead us next, and we couldn't be more thrilled to share it with you and have you with us every step of the way.

We are where art starts, but that is only the beginning. We are a community for the creative in everyone to develop and heighten their personal sense of taste, but that's not where it ends. We are the movement for the liberation of creative expression.

We believe that art is for everyone, and we're creating the cultural context for how it is created, discovered and shared.

Artists love us because we are an inclusive and supportive community. We help them find their identity through self-expression. We provide the tools, resources and exposure to enable them to become better, more successful artists. We inspire people to create art by feeding their creativity.

We provide endless entertainment and inspiration. This is where you see it first. This is where whatever you're into, no matter how niche, is embraced and expressed by a dedicated community of likeminded creatives. This is where the global undercurrent of creativity feeds the future of popular culture.

There's no other place like DeviantArt. We are an unapologetically addictive experience. Our world is a prolific orgy of originality where creatives enjoy freedom of artistic expression. We are the deviation of creativity that shatters the confines of expectation. We can't help it — it runs through our veins and compels us to nurture it in others. This is DeviantArt.

And now we turn to you for the next step in our journey. Where should we head next? What would you like to see the DeviantArt community accomplish in the future?

As I noted in my last journal, there are some big -- and exciting!! -- changes on the way for deviantART. Er, DeviantArt.

The team here at DeviantArt continues to listen to your feedback plus we met with a crew of super-deviants in NYC last month (check out a pic below and got a full, insightful download. Then, we thought long and hard on how to pave a kindred and inspiring direction. As always, you are the center of it all -- and how to connect you with your community.

Ok, getting into it, I want to share a sneak peek on work-in-progress (as in not final!) designs for the new Today page and to hear what everybody thinks.

Fella Version Llama Version

Our intent with the new Today page is to better connect you with other deviants in a much better looking page (yes, a design refresh was overdue!).

We're going to be DeviantArt, officially. But you can always call us deviantART. You'll get to be retro, and that's always... well, retro! This goes for DA and dA, too.

It was nice to see Moonbeam13 and starvingartist today in Toronto. We got some lunch. Then 'Beam was nice enough to drive me to the airport with Rob. Rob! Happy Birthday Moonbeam!

I'm in the sky eating a banana at the moment. I wonder what monkeys would make of me eating a banana at 30,000 feet. Let alone journaling on DA from here.

I was in Toronto visiting Autodesk, and the teams behind Sketchbook and Pixlr and other awesome apps they have. What wonderful people. I really enjoyed seeing what they're up to, it's all very exciting.

I've been hanging out on #devart on dAmn today, and I asked Pickley to pull together all the best scripts and projects out there that improve dAmn. This way DA can consider buying the code, interfaces, etc. and see if we can implement the changes so that everyone gets the improvements. Poor dAmn, doesn't get enough attention from our team. And it pretty much won't for a while, DA is focused on DA itself. So Reaper-X and I were talking about how to bring some fresh blood on to the dAmn network and so I have an idea for him in about a month leveraging some new features that will launch. (Remind me dude, I get busy like crazy! If I go dark on you, hit up LaurenKitsune to nudge me, K?)

Things got twisted for a minute around here. That's about the best way I can say it. It's going on a year now that we're back on track, and you guys are about to get a load of changes to reflect that. All summer, all winter. Changes, improvements, and more changes. Welcomed changes. Happy changes. At least on the whole. You know how it is, people will freak out at stuff. But we're doing quite a bit of user testing, and the feedback from fellow community members and random people alike is suggesting we're hitting this on the head. Heidi and danlev led such a session with Ian in NYC a couple days ago. Can't wait to hear this batch of feedback when I get to HQ tomorrow.

I've been sharing some of our plans (and will continue to) with our many long time friends to be sure we're getting a thumbs up from them. So far the briefings have been focused. But as we get to alpha/beta levels (soon) where there's even more transparency for what will happen I'm gathering feedback from everyone who will talk to us.

Anyway folks, I don't want to bore you. Happy to chat in the thread below a bit. I read everything, I can't always reply.

Oh yeah, we're launching iOS and Android sometime in September, we think. Loads of marketing activity will obviously follow with all the details, but I just wanted to set that as the approximate time frame in case you were wondering.

UPDATE: Let's keep drawing through the weekend! Monday morning at 11:00 am PST I'll start checking out all the amazing works you've been contributing and highlight the very best! EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

Communities of all kinds are held up by pillars made of heart. Typically embodied by people who let the weight of their community rest on their shoulders, willing to let life be life. Sometimes it hurts, and sometimes it's comfortable. Regardless, the result is a halo that surrounds all participants in a community. The healing light of being mothered, fathered or cared for.

These are very special people who take this role in your community. Maybe this person is you. In which case, please be you today, and every day. Because you are very important.

For the rest of us, we all know who the pillars are that hold up the communities that we care about. We all know the value of what they do, especially when we stop to think about it.

There is nothing in life that I have ever found a deeper admiration for than people who take on this role. Pillars of Community. When a human being digs their heels in, claims territory and begins to show Love towards a group of people, they begin to embody the beauty of humanity in its greatest light. Passionate leadership, selflessness. Care for their fellow man. Admiration and dedication to a cause.

It doesn't happen every day.

And it is a personal sacrifice for the greater good. People in such communities find success, and many rewards. Pillars of Community create an atmosphere where success is possible, growth is possible, life is possible. After all we are all mere humans, and we need to be Loved in all aspects of our development. When we go off the rails or as life derails us, sometimes we need that pillar to guide as back to the light.

Pillars of Community are very important people, who cannot be thanked enough.

Three things:

ONE.

I wrote about Clydene Nee here on my journal in July of 2013. As a quick recap, she's the amazing woman who happens to be the Community Pillar for Artists' Alley at San Diego Comic-Con since 1989. She's a hero to this community, loved by all who she has touched. And that's a long, long list of people. I ask that you visit Clydene's GoFundMe page. On behalf of deviantART, a donation has already been made. So you don't have to donate, only if you want to. More importantly, I just want you to read about this woman, and what she is going through, plus who is stepping up to the plate to help. As a member of both the deviantART community, and the SDCC Artists' Alley community, I'm so worried about Clydene. And I'm so moved by the support she is seeing. It's beautiful. It's inspiring. It's so deserved. I wanted to share it. The page was set up by our very own diablo2003 (Mark Brooks) on her behalf. Contributions have come from over 240 people, including Jim Lee (jimlee00) from DC Comics, Erik Ko (ErikKo) and others. I don't think she would have set a page up like this for herself. I'm so proud of you, diablo2003, for stepping up to the plate. It's really awesome of you.

TWO.

In honor of wonderful people like Clydene, people who are Pillars of Community ... please share with us (in the comments) who at deviantART is a pillar of community for you. Or, simply share whatever comes to mind about the pillars that hold up the community you love! These people are critical in life, it's always important to stop and thank them. Acknowledge them. Encourage them. They have often times deviated from their lives, to give to something that matters.

THREE.

If you don't feel like talking about it here, then I simply encourage you to reach out to that pillar today and say THANK YOU, YOU MEAN A LOT TO ME! They need to hear it!

The rampage of 2014 begins. We're all back at hq, refreshed, ready, and with a steady hand we're going to start the surgery.

deviantART hit an all time high traffic record on the 2nd of the year to kick us off. You guys are incredible. Patient. Loving. Precisely what we wish for deviantART to be. Always.

We owe you a lot of work that you can hold in the palm of your hand. A lot of adjustments that make you more comfortable in your devious seats. A lot of celebration, like techgnotic's You're Not Alone article suggests as we bring in the New Year.

It's going to be one heck of a ride in 2014, so strap in!

Meanwhile, I wanted to thank you all for your contributions to my 31st Birthday a few years back. Each of us got confirmation over the holidays that we are now serving 500 people with fresh water in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from two different sites. I didn't end up having much control over the names of the sites, else I would have named them in honor of deviantART. Regardless, it's the results that truly matter. I think highly of the folks at charity: water and encourage each of you to donate your birthdays in 2014! It feels unbelievable to know that we have made a difference in the world!

In the experience of deviantART, we find ourselves hitting "X" buttons a lot, don't we? Every day our +watch lists produce a whole bunch of activity from the people we are interested in. Deviations, Journals, Polls, etc. and we either click "X" to make them disappear right away, or we reply... and then we hit "X" to make them disappear once we're done.

Except for the hoarders. They like to keep stuff. Some of the hoarders keep all the messages. Some keep only the messages they want to remember later. Chances are, they don't really go back to look at the stuff they're hoarding. Who's got that kind of time? Besides, there are always new messages to tend to!

I tend to like the legitimacy of it all. When you +watch someone, you definitely have a chance to see their updates and their new art work. It doesn't somehow scroll away or disappear. You'd have to "X" it away for that to happen.

We do this for:

Deviations published by deviants

Critiques written by deviants about deviations

Journals published by deviants

New forum threads by deviants you +watch

Polls by deviants you +watch

Activity

And it has been requested that this be offered for:

Comments

Faves

... by all the people we +watch!

Well I have to say, that's a lot of hitting "X" -- Some of it very valuable. Some of it totally unnecessary.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that only two of these things really need explicit tracking. The rest can be fed to me in the experience of deviantART without requiring me to "X" them or "Mark them as Read" --

Deviations

Journals

I will try to reply to all. But I also want to thank you in advance. This type of feedback is incredibly valuable to us.

Cheers!

Help in the Comments!

1. What do you think of all this "X" work you're doing?

2. Do you want more than just Deviations & Journals (from your +watch) to require "X" interactions? Why?

I'm excited to let you know that Autodesk, Inc. has made an investment in deviantART and that one of Autodesk's top executives, Samir Hanna, Vice President of the Autodesk Consumer Group, will become an observer on the deviantART Board of Directors.

Autodesk has over 30 years of history in helping designers create amazing things. You may know Autodesk for apps like SketchBook and Pixlr for drawing, illustration, and image editing, or for software like 3ds Max and Maya, which are used by the top film and game studios around the world to create fantastically realistic 3D characters, environments, and effects. Amazing fact: the last 17 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects use Autodesk software. Autodesk is also known for engineering software like AutoCAD, Inventor, and Revit, which has been used to design some of the world’s tallest buildings, longest bridges, and most incredible machines.

With the investment we plan to improve deviantART at a faster pace than we could have just under our own steam. More deviantART delivered deviously -- that's the plan. I can assure you, there will be no change in control over the community or company as a result of this deal but the rest of the terms are staying confidential for now.

Our consistent growth as a community and in raw numbers visiting the site proves how vital dA has become to so many involved in the arts and in the popular culture reflected and created by deviants. It takes more than just extra servers to keep up with this growth. We so deeply appreciate all the support from the community, from staff and from volunteers. It’s hard work but with a huge result -- for me and for many others the best place to be on the Internet.

As you get older, you may begin to see birthdays as a distinctive point in time. A time for reflection on past successes, past roadblocks, past lessons. I also see it as an opportunity to look forward, set goals, aim ridiculously high. I'm sure everyone's heard people joke about disliking getting older and lamenting another year passing, but not me. Not yet, at least. The wisdom and hard lessons I've had to learn over the years helps me map out my immediate future. I may stumble, sure, but I also have a lifetime of overcoming obstacles and analyzing achievements to guide my decisions. All I can do is keep learning and growing.

I feel much the same way about deviantART.

I don't need to tell you that a web property sticking around for 13 years is a rare thing, and it's not an accomplishment we take lightly. We owe our continued existence to all of you, and the passion and inspiration that emanate so naturally from the community, from the most successful professional to the most eager student, cultivates a bond that my team has been honored to be a part of every day for the past 13 years.

We may have provided the framework for this community of artists, but in embracing our products and supporting our efforts, you've truly made it a home. And so, on our 13th Birthday -- August 7th, 2013 -- I couldn't be more thankful for every one of you and the community you've helped build. For us, 13 is an extremely lucky number, and we're simply humbled at the prospect of providing more frameworks for you to cultivate for years to come.

The big joke around the office, of course, is that on our 13th birthday, deviantART is finally the age we require our youngest members to be, and I think that's a poignant statement to our coming of age. We're still fresh-eyed and optimistic, but we have had a lifetime of trials we've overcome, endeavors we've grown from, and a past to reflect on, but we're ready to take on the world as a young-adult company.

But we still need your help! We look to our deviants for guidance, and we look forward to growing with you and for you. When I think of what lies ahead, I get shivers at the possibilities. If the past 13 years have taught us anything, the most giving community on Earth is this home for artists in a small corner of the Internet, and I couldn't be more proud to be taking this journey with all of you.

I think deviantART will be looked upon as a revolution unto itself. Having been able to scale not only it's infrastructure but it's community and spawned sub-communities (within the garden of deviantART) to include the various arts of hundreds of millions of artists worldwide.

And as the ultimate compliment, it will be taken completely for granted. A service fully integrated into daily life, on every pleasing screen you see.The ultimate entity through which artists deliver their message to all man kind.

We live in remarkable times that demand change, and permit unfathomable growth. Growth that has only practical boundaries defined by the actual size of possibility. And we intend to be a catalyst.

That message was our hope back when the Internet was a very different landscape. In 2003 when this was written, there was no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MySpace or even Friendster. The only other network we recall was LiveJournal. And with the passing of time, the scaling of our numbers, and the welcoming of record-breaking numbers of talented artists with every passing day, (now 28 million registered deviants!) I'd say we should all be very proud of all we have achieved together.

So goals for the next 10 years? I'd like to pose that question to the community, but first I'll give it another try.

I think artists en masse will be making their livelihoods on deviantART directly, or as a result of it. More schools and professional companies than ever will learn the importance of our deviantART Profiles, Search Results and features that permit access to artists of every kind. When we began in 2000, I said many times in my journal that I felt that artists were stranded on all corners of the globe, lacking a well-lit path to follow to earn their living in the arts. We all felt this, because it was true.

In 10 years time people all over the world, of all ages will have easy access to every tool, every artistic lesson, every imaginable support group to provide a well-lit path from a humble beginning, to international stardom in the Arts.

These are bold, revolutionary words to me witnessing the Arts at the forefront with all of you. But I believe we all know in our hearts that this is how quickly society is changing, and that this is possible. And because it is possible, and because we all want this; it will be true.

So, if I haven't said it enough, thank you for sharing this special day with us, and thank you for making deviantART possible. Be sure to swing by our hq for some devious festivities, art contests, and we even have some presents for you to help ring in our 13th year. We're feeling pretty lucky.

And by the way, if you were born on the same day deviantART was, August 7, 2000, then welcome to your first day on the site

It isn't just the incredible honor of having a Traditional Pepper drawing by Stanley " Artgerm " Lau, which in itself keeps me and everyone around me gazing in to her incredibly beautiful eyes..

... No, that's not the only reason. Owning a Pepper is a real treasure. This International Woman of Mystery has captured the hearts of some of today's most highly regarded digital artists. Her creator, Artgerm is easily the most popular artist on the Internet. His Gallery is filled with blockbuster art pieces. He achieves position #1 on the home page of deviantART with almost every submission to the site:

Not to mention, I have access to some pre-release tech here at deviantART that allows me to see the demographic responses to art pieces. I've looked closely at Artgerm's Gallery, and it achieves something we see rarely; His audience is as Female as it is Male. Almost a 50%/50% split on pieces that involve Pepper. Your typical Pin-Ups and Comic Book Covers tend to skew remarkably Male. This doubles the size of Artgerm's audience potential, generating grand slam after grand slam chart topping digital art masterpieces. Sowhy do women love Pepper so much?

... Some might say it's because Pepper isn't just the most beautiful woman in the world, she's also a strong, confident figure to be admired. Artists all around the world have come together to try their hand at drawing her for The Pepper Project:

So perhaps my love is justified? Yes, but I'm not even done yet. This piece in particular has special meaning. First of all, this year at Comic-Con we had the great pleasure of Artgerm coming to Artists' Alley to see his fans and accept Traditional Commissions for the first time. That's right, check his Profile, he's accepting traditional commissions for the first time!! Artgerm joined us on our Business of Fan Art panel:

Meanwhile, my beautiful girlfriend Viktoria came to Comic-Con with her friend Diana to show off some leg (hehe), and cosplay as Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose!

She spent weeks on her costume, so as a fun side note I brought this Sonic head back in the car with me, and I happened to drive Artgerm back to Los Angeles so he could catch his plane to Singapore. He saw the Sonic head in the back seat...

And so we have Sonic Pepper:

She's not only the first ever Traditional Commission of Pepper by Artgerm, she's also the perfect encapsulation of the best Comic-Con year that deviantART and I have ever had! The deviantART tattoo on her left arm is the ultimate finishing touch. The cherry on top. I'm truly humbled..

Thank you. This was an incredibly kind thing to find at hq this past Monday. It was fantastic to see you and I look forward to the next time we get to hang out. Also, thanks for geeking with me about dA, and answering a million questions that I pummeled you with the whole drive back to LA. hehe

Your work is so inspiring. I've been staring every day at this Pepper and her absolute radiance as she pops off the paper, seemingly alive. Her eyes are focused on the viewer of the piece, you have to walk far to the left or right to lose her gaze. Guests to my home all stop to take notice and ask about her.

Why? I think I know.

Her lines represent a perfect gateway into popular culture at a global scale, capturing the essence of the most popular style of artwork in current times. To me, Pepper is the face of now, and the face of the future.